[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 9, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2590-S2591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               VENEZUELA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to 
visit a mounting crisis in our immediate neighborhood, specifically in 
Venezuela.
  What I saw were in fact three overlapping crises: economic, 
humanitarian, and political.
  Hyperinflation, malnutrition, confounding refugee flows into 
neighboring countries, political repression, and staggering 
mismanagement and corruption are all endemic.
  Some of you may have seen the front page of Tuesday's New York Times 
with the heartbreaking photo of Venezuela's indigenous Warao people who 
are suffering an AIDS epidemic because of the collapse of the country's 
healthcare system, just one of many such tragedies unfolding in a 
country without basic vaccinations or adequate food.
  The situation and suffering are only getting worse as the government 
continues to deny the obvious problems or simply blames them all on 
other countries.
  We have heard this canard before, most notably in Cuba where the 
regime blames the mismanagement and repression under its corrupt 
leadership on everyone but itself.
  Also as in Cuba, the regime is cruelly detaining an innocent 
American--in this case Josh Holt--who by all accounts is a political 
hostage.
  It didn't have to be this way.
  Venezuela used to be a wealthy country with an imperfect but 
functioning democracy. It also had deep and unaddressed chasms of 
poverty, a gulf neglected by many ruling parties of the region that led 
to their ouster at the ballot box, including in the case of Hugo 
Chavez's initial victories.
  But like so many autocrats at heart, Chavez used his position of 
power to dismantle the country's democracy and democratic institutions. 
He mismanaged the economy and allowed corruption at a scale that made a 
mockery of what he initially campaigned against. His successor, 
President Maduro, has doubled down on this approach. Political 
opponents are jailed or run out of the country, political opposition 
parties are arbitrarily banned or disqualified, and the reign of 
corruption on the backs of the Venezuelan people has only expanded.
  Tragically, Maduro had a choice to avoid what appears to be the 
inevitable collapse of his once proud nation. He could have seized the 
opportunities offered by the Vatican and other regional powers to 
mediate a peaceful political path forward in Venezuela. He could have 
taken obvious steps to restore confidence and abide by basic democratic 
norms.
  Sadly, his government repeatedly rejected such negotiations with the 
opposition and is recklessly moving ahead with a snap and discredited 
election on May 20; yet this election does not come close to meeting 
international democratic standards and will likely only plunge the 
country into further isolation and crisis.

[[Page S2591]]

  When I met with Maduro and others in his regime in Caracas last 
month, I pointed out that Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much 
in Washington these days, but they do agree on Venezuela. The Trump 
administration is correct this week in urging a suspension of this 
election under such absurd conditions.
  Let me give you just one example, that of leading opposition figure 
and former mayor of a district of Caracas Leopoldo Lopez who remains 
under house arrest and disqualified from competing in the upcoming 
election. I was able to meet with his brave wife, Lilian Tintori, in 
Venezuela--whose passport has been taken by the government--and speak 
with him by phone. We were not allowed to visit him in person.
  Why was Lopez jailed, kept in solitary confinement, and now put under 
house arrest? Because, according to the government, he was using 
subliminal messages to direct protesters to act unlawfully.
  That is right. One of the country's leading opposition candidates is 
in jail for sending ``subliminal messages.''
  One of the prosecutors who led the case against Lopez later fled the 
country and said the trial was a farce based on false evidence and that 
Lopez is innocent. This tells you the nature of the outrageous 
political disgrace at play in Venezuela.
  Senator Menendez, I, and 10 other Democrats made the same point as 
the Trump administration in a resolution introduced earlier this year, 
specifically that the results of this rushed election will not be 
considered legitimate if basic conditions are not met.
  Let me repeat them here as they are so obvious: All political 
prisoners and jailed candidates, including Leopoldo Lopez, should be 
immediately released and free to participate in the election process; 
all parties should be free to peacefully participate in the election; 
the discredited election commission must be reformed into a credible 
nonpartisan body to administer the election; there must be no linking 
of government food to one's political participation or support of the 
ruling party, a particularly cruel tactic when many are suffering from 
severe malnutrition; local and international election monitors must be 
allowed, accredited, and given genuine access in the pre and actual 
election periods; and there must be at least 6 months to allow for a 
legitimate campaign under these conditions.
  I believe the Venezuelan Government provided me a visa to visit 
because it was looking for a way out of its increasing and deserved 
international isolation.
  Well, the path forward is actually quite clear and entirely in the 
Venezuelan Government's control, and it begins with running a clean and 
fair election as just described. Quite simply, have the courage and 
decency to allow the Venezuelan people the same fair and open process 
afforded Hugo Chavez when he first won at the ballot box. Have the 
courage to allow the world, including the American people, to help your 
people who are suffering and fleeing in desperation.
  In terms of the relationship with the United States, also let Josh 
Holt and his Venezuelan wife come home. Don't continue down the path of 
a hostage-taker.

                          ____________________